Track: The Clockworks – Can I Speak to a Manager?
In three and a half blistering minutes, The Clockworks prove once again that they are one of the most exciting bands around at the moment. ‘Can I Speak to a Manager?’ is over three minutes of excoriating and rage-infused ranting at the mind-numbing stupidity of everyday interactions – in this case simply trying to get …
Track: Eskobar – Hey Sister
I’ve mentioned before that there are limited stories to tell just as there are a finite set of musical notes to play. It’s not the story, it’s the way it’s told. It’s not the musical notes, it’s the way it’s played. The vital ingredient is the creativity. Swedish band Eskobar, in this vein, clearly acknowledge …
Album Review: Haneke Twins – Astronaut
Deep down inside Switzerland’s CERN Laboratory, working hard on the Hadron Collider and the Higgs Bosun particle, a couple of scientists from Greece have found something else quite exciting. Paschalis Vichoudis (vocals and bass guitar) and Stefanos Leontsinis (guitars) are at the core of Haneke Twins – a post punk/shoegaze group that has just released …
See: Juanita Stein releases video for the haunting track Snapshot, plus album news
Juanita Stein has impressive form – she was part of Sydney band Howling Bells, a band that achieved success both in its home country and in the UK with its 2006 self-titled album. Now residing in Brighton in the UK, she is set to release her third post-Howling Bells solo album,’Snapshot’, on 2 October 2020 …
Track: Versari – Plus De Tristesse
The arctic guitars and sonorous vocals of French trio Versari‘s new single ‘Plus de Tristesse’ are compelling and chilling: creating a dark and threatening tone that is delightfully sombre and architectural in the spaces it creates. On a bedrock of delicious squawling feedback, the track is gloriously imperious and statuesque, drawing in a Serge Gainsbourg …
Track: Soap – Memento
Soap have just released their vibrant debut single ‘Memento’ and it augurs well for this young bunch of musicians from Wynnum, a suburb of the outskirts of Brisbane. The band has been playing together for four years since forming at the age of fifteen. ‘Memento’ is a classic slice of indie rock – tight, paced …
Album Review: The Psychedelic Furs – Made of Rain plus tour news
There is something about Richard Butler’s voice in The Psychedelic Furs that induces a warm feeling of nostalgia for a certain era when the Furs were such a unique and distinctive force. But the new album from The Psychedelic Furs, ‘Made of Rain’, has nothing whatsoever to do with nostalgia nor is it in any …
Track: Jack Bratt – The Outsider
The last time we covered Jack Bratt, he had just been awarded the prestigious Grant McLennan Fellowship jointly funded by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland and the Australian Performing Rights Association and was looking forward to using the proceeds to fund a three month residency in New York last June. How things have changed. …
Track: Death Bells – Heavenly Bodies
At the core of Death Bells are an Australian duo who relocated to Los Angeles in 2018 and after an initial EP, signed on to Dais Records. They have just released the magnificent single ‘Heavenly Bodies’ in anticipation of their new album, ‘New Signs of Life’ due on 25 September 2020. There is detectable a …
Album Review: Fontaines D.C. – A Hero’s Death
If there is one thing Fontaines D.C. have stressed on the eve of the release of their second album ‘A Hero’s Death’ it is that people should not simply expect part two of their outrageously good debut, ‘Dogrel’. This is a Fontaines D.C. reboot, not a sequel. Singer Grian Chatten puts it quite buntly: I …